Best and Worst Car you have owned - Personal experience only.

[Redmires]

I still have fond memories of my old GPO Telephone Van, which had a terminal velocity of 59mph.
TJH

You must have had a bad un. Here's one of my GPO mates taking our yellow Bedford van off the dial, downhill with a good tail wind. Circa 1983-4 Happy days

[GoSeigen]

Best car: Audi A4 convertible. Had never bought a new car, walked into a dealer with newly pregnant missus just because we were passing by, had a look around, on the way home paid the deposit an A4 convertible by mobile phone; delivery lead time was six months, just in time for the birth. Loved that car: it was great fun and beautifully designed and engineered and there is something about 6 cylinders vs four. The gearbox blew up about 1 month before the warranty expired so it brought a bit of good luck with it too...

Worst car: more difficult to choose 'cos I try to avoid bad ones but any GM car I have ever driven has left me cursing within minutes. Would never purchase one without a gun to my head. My first car, a mini, needed constant attention and was probably a death trap (I recall a wheel nut coming off and soggy brakes) but had personality. I hate Fords too, tacky cheap things and the latest one I was foolish enough to buy could have killed me and DD when its brakes failed on a steep hill. Probably not its fault entirely but adds to my feeling that Fords are best avoided.


GS

[DrFfybes]

I still have fond memories of my old GPO Telephone Van, which had a terminal velocity of 59mph.
TJH

You must have had a bad un. Here's one of my GPO mates taking our yellow Bedford van off the dial, downhill with a good tail wind. Circa 1983-4 Happy days

The flatbed in front was going some as well.

Paul

[kiloran]

The flatbed in front was going some as well.

Paul

How do we know? Maybe the flatbed was in a stationary queue of traffic

--kiloran

[tjh290633]

I still have fond memories of my old GPO Telephone Van, which had a terminal velocity of 59mph.
TJH

You must have had a bad un. Here's one of my GPO mates taking our yellow Bedford van off the dial, downhill with a good tail wind. Circa 1983-4 Happy days

Morris 8 Series ZGPO - Derived from the Series E with a 3 speed gearbox, probably a lower back axle ratio. 1943 model, which lasted me 2 years from 1956-8. It had had a gold seal engine before I got it. Wartime spec, so rather earlier than your model. I saw it a few years later, still going strong, with new headlights and a new paint job. I should have said ex-GPO Telephones.

TJH

[stooz]

Thinking back my worst were all British.
I've had over 50 vehicles now. I've tried the lot.

Worst, metro.
Just awful.
But for breakdowns, a TVR. But I loved it despite that.

50 stooz!

How long do you keep a car? About 6 months?

John

Sometimes that long, yeah.

[stooz]

Might not be the right order... Can't remember them all. I've got it written down somewhere so I will update it..
Here's what I can remember...

Vauxhall viva. 18yrs old when I bought it
Renault 5 GTL
British Leyland montego estate
Vauxhall nova sr
Volvo 240 GLT
Rover 800 fastback
Audi 80 quattro
Nova GTE
Citroen saxo GT MK1 (3mths)
Citroen saxo mkII
Ford escort L. 13 yrs old
Ford escort convertible xr3i
Ford escort 1.6 gl (company car)
Vauxhall Astra CDI (stolen)
Vauxhall cavalier
TVR Chimeria 4.0
Audi S4 Quattro
Ford escort turbo xr3i
Golf GTi MK3
TVR Tuscan same time as the golf..
Golf GTi MK4
Audi A6 estate. gearbox failed total write off
Metro
VW Polo
Honda CRV
Skoda Citigo
Skoda Fabia black edition (current)

Bikes
Yamaha 125xt
Suzuki bandit 600s
Triumph Daytona 955i silver (new)
Triumph Daytona 955i gold (new)
Triumph Daytona 955i yellow
Yamaha xt660x

[airbus330]

Well to pass the time in lockdown I wrote my list out, makes grizzly reading. The worst by far was the Nissan Stanza which while reliable seemed to have been designed to remove any joy from driving. The least reliable was the Jag XJ. The seeming obvious best, the 911, I was also one of the least enjoyable due to epic running costs and constant hassle from other drivers. Overall, the most enjoyable was the 120d BMW, it was well suited to my long commute and was entertaining to drive over the mountain roads. Extremely capable. Most happy memories for the Toyota Celica. Did 114k miles in it. Never went wrong. No idea why I loved it so much.

Edit: OMG Forgot the Renault 5 Turbo. Now that was historically unreliable!

Sunbeam Imp Sport
Mini Clubman
Fiat 127 Sport
Vw Golf D
Fiat X-9
Renault Fuego
MGB Gt
Jaguar XJ6
Morris Marina Van
Ford Escort 1.6L
Mg Midget
Nissan Stanza
Suzuki SJ410
BMW318i
Renault 5 GT Turbo
Vauxhall cavalier
Toyota Celica 2.0
Renault Megane
Audi TT
Porsche 911 C4S
Suzuki Swift
Mini Cooper S
BMW118d
BMW120d
Mini Cooper D
Ford Focus

[Watis]

Here's my list

Austin Mini
Ford Cortina Mk1
Ford Cortina Mk2
Triumph 1500
Vauxhall Chevette
Ford Escort Mk3
Vauxhall Chevette
Ford Sierra
Ford Sierra Sapphire
Fiat Uno
Ford Mondeo
Ford Ka 2
Toyota RAV4 Mk2
Toyota Yaris
Ford Kuga


Reliability wise, the worst was the Mk3 Escort. By the time I sold it, with 90k on the clock, it was on its second distributor and third carburettor! And the best was the Ka - I put 140k on the clock (from almost new) and it never let me down.

I enjoyed driving the RAV4, although the dual mass flywheel failed at 70k, a known issue and north of £1,500 to replace.

Watis

[swill453]

OK, here's my list

Renault 4
Renault 5 GTL
Ford Escort 1.3 GL
Vauxhall Astra 1.6 L
Vauxhall Astra 1.8 SRi
Vauxhall Cavalier 2.0 L
Ford Mondeo 2.0 L
Honda Accord 2.0i
BMW 320i
BMW 318iS
Vauxhall Omega 2.5
Mercedes Benz 280E Estate
Citroen Xsara 2.0d
Vauxhall Vectra 2.2 SRi
Ford Mondeo 2.0 TD
Vauxhall Astra 2.0 CDTi

A high proportion of Vauxhalls when I look at it like that. The early ones were all company cars. Both the Astra 1.8 and the Cavalier 2.0 broke their cam belts, despite being serviced to schedule. However both were non-interference engines and no damage was done.

Best were the 6-cylinder BMW 320i and the Omega 2.5, hated selling the latter because we got a dog and needed an estate. The Merc was a great old bus but fuel consumption was in the teens unless you were particularly light-footed.

Scott.